How to Manually Remove Programs from the Add/Remove Programs List

ID: Q247501

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 95

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about editing the registry. Before you edit the registry, make sure you understand how to restore it if a problem occurs. For information about how to do this, view the "Restoring the Registry" Help topic in Regedit.exe or the "Restoring a Registry Key" Help topic in Regedt32.exe.

SUMMARY

This article decribes how to manually remove items found in the Add/Remove Programs list box that you have removed, but are still displayed in the list.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

For information about how to edit the registry, view the "Changing Keys and Values" Help topic in Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) or the "Add and Delete Information in the Registry" and "Edit Registry Data" Help topics in Regedt32.exe. Note that you should back up the registry before you edit it. If you are running Windows NT, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

Windows 95/98 compatible programs may have an uninstall program. The Add/Remove Programs tool lists all the Windows compatible programs that do have an uninstall program. Manually removing the program from the list can be helpful, if you uninstall a program and the registry key that is used to display the program name in the Add/Remove Programs tool is not removed correctly. Use Registry Editor to delete the registry key that contains the name of your program in the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Under this key, there are number of sub-keys, each representing an installed program.

To determine which program each sub-key represents, open it and find the following values:

DisplayName - The value data for DisplayName is the name listed in the Add/Remove Programs tool.

UninstallString - The value data for UninstallString is the program used to uninstall the program.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbdisplay kbtool kbui win95 win98 win98se
Version : WINDOWS:95
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto